1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a portable football holding device, and more specifically to a football holder for place kicking that does not require the assistance of a person.
2. Background Information
American football, known in the United States and Canada simply as football, is a competitive team sport. Outside of the United States and Canada, the sport is usually referred to as American football (or sometimes as gridiron or gridiron football) to differentiate it from other football games. American football is the most popular spectator sport in the United States.
Both American football and soccer have their origins in varieties of football played in the United Kingdom in the mid-19th century, and American football is directly descended from rugby football. The ball used in American football has a pointed prolate spheroid shape, also known as the vesica piscis shape, and has a large set of stitches along one side.
In surveys of Americans, pluralities of respondents consider it to be their favorite sport. Football's TV viewership ratings far surpass those of other sports. College football is also popular throughout North America. Four college football stadiums (Michigan Stadium, Beaver Stadium, Neyland Stadium, Ohio Stadium), seat more than 100,000 fans and regularly sell out. Even high school football games can attract more than 10,000 people in some areas. The weekly autumn ritual of college and high-school football—which includes marching bands, cheerleaders and parties (including the ubiquitous tailgate party)—is an important part of the culture in much of small town America. It is a long-standing tradition in the United States (though not universally observed) that high school football games are played on Friday, college games on Saturday, and professional games on Sunday (with an additional professional game on Monday nights). Football is played recreationally by children of all ages and grades, amateur clubs and youth teams (e.g., the Pop Warner little-league programs). There are also many “semi-pro” teams in leagues where the players are paid to play but at a small enough salary that they generally must also hold a full-time job.
One of the key players in any football team is the placekicker, or simply kicker. The placekicker is the title of the player in American and Canadian football who is responsible for the kicking duties of field goals, extra points, and, in many cases, kickoffs. Professional placekickers sometimes earn over a million dollars per year in salary. To obtain expertise in place kicking, football place kickers must spend many hours place kicking in order to improve both the strength and accuracy of their specialty. In the past, however, it has been necessary to have a cooperative holder, or a second person, to hold the football, like during a live game. A holder, then, represents an inefficient use of manpower and necessarily prevents the place kicker from practicing on his own. As a result, a number of devices for holding the football to temporarily replace the holder have been developed, but none with much commercial success.
These devices include, for example, the device shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,464,209, issued to Sang on Nov. 7, 1995, is entitled “Portable football holder”. This device is a portable football holder that includes two mutually pivotable legs with one leg having an end designed to engage the tip of a football to hold the football in an upright position, and with the other leg being connected to a V-shaped base. The V-shaped base is designed to sit on a ground surface to support the portable football holder. However, the Sang invention is not fully collapsible as it has rigid parts, like its elbows 31, 33 and the apex 17. Therefore, the Sang invention cannot disassemble, pack and store as readily as the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,505,445, issued to Treadwell on Apr. 9, 1996, is entitled “Football kicking tee”. This device is a kicking tee for holding a football in an upright position for kicking, comprises first, second and third legs having respective first and second end portions. The first and second legs first end portions are secured together to form an inverted “V” in a substantially vertical plane with the first and second legs second end portions engaging the ground. The third leg first end portion is secured to the first and second legs first end portions such that the third leg is disposed substantially horizontally when the third leg second end portion engages the tip of the football.
However, unlike the present invention, the Treadwell invention does not fold into less than half of its working height, and is complex given its pivot structure. In contrast, the simple and inexpensive integrated bungee cords provide all that is necessary to fold the present invention into its compact structure for easy storage and portability and to snap it into ready position when taken out of its storage pouch.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,946,165, issued to Rambacher on Aug. 7, 1990, is entitled “Football holder for place-kicking”. This device includes a base, a vertical stem, and a pivotable arm adapted to hold the football from one end thereof, so that it may be retained in a proper position for place kicking. However, with a knob-turning adjustable tensioning mechanism to control the amount of tension applied to the football as it is being held, the '165 invention is quite complex, and must be carefully readjusted for varying sizes of footballs.
Another football holding device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,546,974, issued to Brown on Oct. 15, 1985, is entitled “Football holding device”. Although the Brown device can accommodate footballs of various sizes, it includes springs or other elastic-type members to cause the holding arm to swing up and away from the path of the kicker's foot. However, the Brown device is still a rather complex and not a foolproof mechanism.
A number of additional football holding devices are also known, each of which includes a holding arm placed above a base whose other end is intended to contact the end of a football. These include U.S. Pat. No. 4,632,395, issued to Ferrebee on Dec. 30, 1986, is entitled “Football place/field goal kicking device”. It includes a 3-element arm pivotally and serially connected to each other and is intended to fall to the side after kicking and therefore not interfere with the kicker's foot.
Additionally, U.S. Pat. No. 4,634,122, issued to Kline on Jan. 6, 1987, is entitled “Holder for football place-kicking practice”. This device, which includes a flexible finger attached to an arm, holds the football in position on a kicking tee.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,897,948, issued to Gerela, discloses yet another football place kicking device which in this case simply includes supporting shaft 6 on a base 4 and a tubular flexible arm 18 which is received in a reduced cross-section 16 of the shaft. Arm 18 in this case is said to be made of a semi-rigid material, meaning that it is deformable but will resume its original shape. A plastic garden hose is specifically referred to therein.
Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 4,807,880, issued to Deal on Feb. 28, 1989, is entitled “Ball support device”. The device incorporates a rigid J-spike having a rigid permanent configuration.
It is desirable to have a simpler and more effective (American) football holding device that effectively simulates a person holding the football—but not needing the assistance of anyone—while not interfering with the kicker, and provides proper placement of the football for repetitive, authentic use.
It is also desirable to have such a football holder be affordable and portable.